Baited Breath?

Seeing how my last update was almost a month ago, you’d think I’d have a lot to blog about. Well, think again, folks. This is the Chicken… all I do is ride my bike, eat lots, and drink red wine. Or should that be eat and drink lots of red wine? Oh, and I work at a pretty boring job. I mean, I’m an accountant for the government… how exciting can that be?

So loyal readers here is the update you’ve all been waiting for with bated breath, in chronological order, no less. And only the high (low?) lights. I mean, do you really want to read about what I ate for breakfast?

(Here’s a quick sidenote. I used to always think that expression was “waiting with baited breath” and I wondered, “Why would someone wait with fish breath?”)

Christmas Eve was spent with Darlene and Pilar. It’s the first time Gabriella did not cry when she saw me.
Isa and her mother were in town… Isa from Miami and Ingrid from Sweden. Ingrid and I “scoring” chestnuts.
We gave Gabriella a tent. We should have gotten her a “real” one as she kept trying to get in this one.
Jewish Christmas – Heidi, George, Sonja and I decided to go for a nice bike ride on Christmas Day, much to the dismay of my mother and godmother. We rode something like 6 hours and 90 miles. We even had to take a ferry across the Potomac near Leesburg. How cool is that?
The ride was organized by Heidi whose last name ends in ‘burg so you can see that she had nothing better to do on a Christian holiday. When she asked if Sonja and I would like to ride, we said of course. She then asked, “Aren’t you Christian?” We replied, “Not good ones” and the ride was on. Yes, I will say hi to Hitler in Hell for you for that one. By the way, after the ride we met up with even more Jewish friends and had dinner at the Veggie Garden, ‘cause you know the only places open on Christmas are Chinese restaurants, then off to a movie (Charlie Wilson’s War – 3 ½ stars from me).
Belated Birthday Dinner – For my birthday, Sonja took me out to Belga. While we were dining on our fine Belgian food the waitress brought over a bottle of wine. It seems Laura and Gloria had dropped it off at the restaurant for me with a note… Happy Birthday, from Azucar. How sweet! A bottle of wine from the White Dog. Since Sonja and I had already ordered up a bottle I decided to keep this one for a nice home cooked meal. Laura explained to me that this Sicilian wine was perfect for pairing with steak and that’s what Azu had in mind (she of course was thinking of the leftovers). Yes, Azu did get some of this yummy meal.

The Marmot came to visit again. She’s such a good guest because there’s no stress. If I want to sit around in my underwear all day watching TV and eating pizza, she’s ok with that. If I want to take her on a 3 hour ride up the C&O to Great Falls, she’s ok with that as well. We did both, although the sitting around wasn’t necessarily in my underwear, and we weren’t eating pizza. We did eat lots of cheese, drink lots of champagne and red wine, and celebrated the new year in style with Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest. Classic.

Since my Jewish Christmas Day ride, I’ve done several more rides of note… 2 Kelly Acres rides and 1 shop ride in addition to my weekday training. I only mention all this riding because my sis Val says I’m going to be eating her tire next year. Come on, Val. Bring. It. On. Oh, and Dad… I hope you are stepping it up. I don’t want to have to wait too long for you to catch up at RAGBRAI.

Kelley Acres was once again, everything I thought it would be and more. Sonja and I felt like we were on the Artemis team ride 2 Saturdays ago. This past Saturday was more low-key with the usual suspects minus Lynda and Sonja. I rode up with Heidi and Ilana Iguana. Heidi had baked scones and smeared them with “lumpy butter” and blueberry jam. Yum! I know it’s what got me thru the ride. And Fred’s chili is the best recovery meal one can have. By the way, that lumpy butter is actually something called clotted cream or something like that and is apparently a delicacy from England. Who knew the Brits could make something that tastes good.

The shop ride on Sunday was great. After the Kelley Acres ride the day before I was really worried about riding with a bunch of guys. Well, that and the fact that I had a bottle of wine and a bag of chips for dinner the night before. Turns out that most of the guys were suffering right along with me. How does one drink an entire bottle of wine? I’m not quite sure how I managed it, but since Sonja was out and I was home alone and drinking (I know… never drink alone) I just kept refilling my class and next thing I know, I’m passed out on the sofa. Thankfully I made it to the shop on time and had a nice ride (Arlington Hills) with the guys.

A few closing notes… I’m off to Breckenridge Friday to ski in neck-deep powder. I only hope the skiing does not bother my foot, which is only a bit better. I may have to get it x-rayed when I get back. And the best non-cycling-related purchase I’ve made in a while… my Magic Bullet.